Hospitals Refuse Emergency Contraception to Rape Victims

New state laws are giving hospitals, nurses, doctors and pharmacists the right to refuse to offer emergency contraception.

“Heather Minton couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone that she had just been brutally…. But she did insist that a friend get her out of the party fast and take her to the emergency room. She needed emergency contraception (EC) before it was too late and the clinic on campus wouldn’t be able to help her until Monday. Minton says the ER nurse at Riverside Community Hospital told Minton’s friend that she wouldn’t treat Minton if she hadn’t been raped, and suggested they try another ER a half-hour’s freeway drive away.

When we got to the emergency room, I was hysterical. No one knew what had happened to me, just that I had had sex and I wanted EC. But the nurse sent us to another hospital. It was after 2:00 a.m. and we didn’t know where we were going or whether they’d refuse to treat me too.